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April 16, 2013

The Arrogant Texan is growing up! My blog is about a year old now, and I never imagined I would have stuck it out this long, but I have. So I've decided to purchase a real domain name and move to a format that is just all-around better for blogging.

April 11, 2013

Thank you JNJ for another fantastic Throwback posts about one of my favorites.

Here's to one of the Good Guys. Born in Fort Worth, raised in Oklahoma, Roger Miller was just a good ole boy. Although he passed in 1992, he brought so much joy to so many people. A man of many talents, he wrote many songs for other people and also had his own TV show. He wrote a Broadway play called "Big River," which was his adaptation of Huckleberry Finn1 He was full of humor in his music, and his scat singing made everyone smile.

April 9, 2013

I have been waiting on this EP for a good little while now. I first saw TC Fambro and the Copperheads back at the end of June when I took myself on my little Texas study abroad trip. You can read all about it here, but basically, I wasn't expecting the band playing on a flat bed trailer in the middle of the country at some bachelor pad house to a bunch of college kids and townies to become one of my favorite bands.

Since then, I have tried to see TC and the Copperheads every time they've been in Lubbock. I know they have been played quite a bit on the radio in Fort Worth thanks to Shayne Hollinger (who knows good music) but I'm hoping Lubbock will pick up on them soon. I'm doing all I can to spread the word.

This EP finally came out a few days ago and I've been waiting to review it since these five songs landed in my email box a few weeks back.

It starts off with "Waiting for My Time to Come," which might be a favorite right off the bat. It's got a desperate love song theme of not having the girl he wants, but with a hopeful and upbeat tone. Like he knows he'll get the girl, but he's gotta let her kiss all the frogs first. His voice is so unique and the band sounds great on this track.

"Bad Medicine" is one of those bluesy, broken-hearted drinking ballads that kicks you in the gut, especially if you've been there before. Even if you haven't been there, you still feel it and kind of just want to drink whiskey alone in the dark anyway. "She slipped away, I just let her go; I'm done with the pain, let the bourbon flow." It's the classic country theme of broken hearts mended with smoke and booze and to me that'll never get old.

The beat picks up again in the middle with "Runnin' On Fumes." Probably my least favorite on the EP right now (those sometimes grow to be my favorite), even though it is the most upbeat sounding. The lyrics are good and relateable and really like the music on this track.

"The Bitter End" is an incredible old school country sounding Waltz that you can't not love. I think TC's writing is best on this track. The weather references throughout the track paint a picture for the classic country theme of a relationship gone wrong. Just a great song all around.

Finally, "From the Fires Below," is definitely my favorite on this EP. I'm always obsessed with bad girl songs (Dirty River Boys "She," . "It's the devil's daughter, straight from Hell's fire, breaker of hearts and queen of desire, can't escape her, she follows me wherever I go, from the fires below." This is the kind of sexy song that got guys like Gary Allen where they are. It's fun to listen to and sing along with and just a jam.

Show TC Fabro and the Copperheads some love and go buy this EP! It's less than five bucks but worth a whole lot more.

April 4, 2013

Waylon sang, "Once you're down in Texas, Bob Wills is still the King." And no other words ring quite as true. Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys were the Kings of Swing music. I'm not going to go into the whole story, as it is an amazing story, but do yourself a favor and read up on this Texas original.

April 3, 2013

Do you ever have so much admiration for a band that you think surely everyone else feels the same way and when they play in your town, the bar will surely be packed because they deserve it? And then you get there and there are a solid 17 people in the whole place, including the band and the staff? Well that is what happened last Thursday night at Blue Light. I just KNEW it would be packed full of people to see Phil Pritchett but I was wrong. At one point we counted and there were less than 20 humans in the place. I know it must suck to play to a crowd like that, but let me tell you, it didn't get him down.

I took a cue from a friend who said this was a fun band to watch and I should catch the show because it is one of his favorites. I had honestly not planned on going because I'd never seen him before or really listened to his music much, but I had heard his name a lot by people who's musical opinions I always trust, so I went for it. Honestly, the only song I really knew was "Willin'," which he sings with Cody Canada on one of his records.

My friend was right, Phil Pritchett was so much fun to watch. He just has a cool vibe and good energy. I would love to see him with a full crowd because I can't imagine the energy that would be emitted from that. If you listen to his live albums you can still feel the vibes. By the way - you can download a TON of music *for free* on his website, which claims him to be "the world's most fiercely independent artist." You can't beat that.

So go download some tunes and find out when he's playing close to you and do it to it!